5 Surprising Health Benefits Of Mushrooms

Imagine walking around in your neighborhood park. As you're walking with your friends, you notice something different growing in the grass that wasn't there yesterday. You stop to get a closer look and notice that it looks like a small umbrella. You've just found a mushroom!

Mushroom are not plants ! Mushrooms are a kind of fungus that usually look like umbrellas and grow in places like yards, forests, fields, and gardens.

Because since mushrooms are a fungus and not a plant, they don't make their own food. They don't even need sunlight to grow! Imagine what it would be like to live in the dark all the time!

Though it might not sound good to you, mushrooms absorb the nutrients they need from the dead and rotting plants and animals where they live.
And when you see that little umbrella-shaped mushroom poking out of the grass, you might not know it is hiding a big secret. Most of this fungus is actually growing underneath the ground!

5 Surprising Health Benefits of Mushrooms

* They have cancer-fighting properties.

Five types of mushrooms (maitake, crimini, portabella, oyster and white button) are found to be significantly suppressing breast cancer cell growth and reproduction, both common and specialty mushrooms can be chemoprotective against breast cancer.
Also, mushrooms contain lentinan, a type of sugar molecule, that lentinan may help extend the survival of patients with some cancers when used with chemotherapy it has anti-tumor effects. Lentinan does not kill cancer cells directly. Instead, it enhances the immune system, which may aid in slowing the growth of tumors. Lentinan also kills viruses and microbes.

* Mushrooms are immunity-boosters.

We now know that lentinan can boost your immune system, but it has a helper, too. Beta-glucan is a sugar found in the cells walls of fungi (among other plants) that also helps boost your immune system. Lentinan comes from shiitake mushrooms, but beta-glucan is found in many varieties, namely the common button mushrooms.

* They help lower cholesterol.

In general, mushrooms are cholesterol free, but they're also a good source of chitin and beta-glucan, which arefibers that lower cholesterol.Shiitake mushrooms contain a compound that helps the liver process cholesterol and remove it from the blood stream. It contains potent phytonutrients that help keep cells from sticking to blood vessel walls and forming plague buildup, which maintains healthy blood pressure and improves circulation.

* They're high in B and D vitamins.

Mushrooms are one of the few food sources for vitamin D, a fat-soluble vitamin that our bodies can make with exposure to sunlight. Button mushrooms and criminis in particular are high in vitamin D, but criminis are high in another key vitamin, too: vitamin B12, which is key for vegetarians as it's most often found in animal products. B vitamins are important because they convert food into fuel for our bodies, giving us energy; D vitamins are important because they help our bodies absorb calcium and promote bone growth.

* They could help fight aging.

Mushrooms have high amounts of two antioxidants, ergothioneine and glutathione, which are both associated with anti-aging properties.Mushrooms are highest dietary source of these two antioxidants taken together, and that some types are really packed with both of them.